IPT Furai

I met IPT (specifically, Ken and Rachel) at Skydive Arizona, which they call home. After talking to them a couple of times, I decided to jump their Axon 150. With my jump numbers being only around 240, I had a hard time distinguishing between the Axon and the Sabre 2 (which I owned at the time). Shortly after, I happened into a situation that had me doing back-to-back loads and using the Axon in one rig and the Sabre 2 in another. This was true comparison! They were similar, but had distinct differences.

Being that they are a local company and are regularly at Skydive Arizona on weekends and events, I decided I would demo the Axon 135 to downsize. Afterward, I felt that I could even handle the 120, but as of yet, refrain from another downsize! However, I had developed a desire for more “performance!” I had enough confidence in IPT’s canopies, that I ordered a Furai, without demoing the Furai!

Today, I have about 80 jumps on the Furai. I am still learning what it’s capabilities are, and I continue to love flying it. Long spot? I will bet on the Furai making it back with just a little bit of rear riser. Openings? I am the only problem! If I maintain good body position, the canopy is on-heading and true! The Furai responds well to harness inputs and is pretty light on front risers. The flare! A small first stage input, then a slow-and-steady stage two bleeds the energy off until you run out of arm extension. The bottom of the flare has plenty enough power too!

As for the company: I have had adjustments, modifications, and inspections done. Everything has been explained in detail! IPT’s service is transparent, informative, friendly, and always customer oriented. I almost think that it causes emotional distress if someone is less than 100% satisfied! I feel that the same attention has been placed on their products, and I wait with great anticipation for their next-level sport parachute!

Oh, by the way, the blue and black canopy pictured in Furai section of the IPT website, and here on Dropzone? That would be mine! Thanks Ken and Rachel!

I had ordered my Axon 170 but was still in the need of a main to fill the void while I was waiting on my Axon to be manufactured. I figured I would demo the Furai 170 and see how it was too. I ended up jumping it for two weekends and put quite a few jumps on it.

Packing the Furai is nothing special. Being I was jumping a Sabre previously I was in the old habit of rolling the nose when packing. No need to do that on the Furai. The openings were incredibly smooth and predictable on every single jump.

The glide while using the rear risers was great. On one jump I was with the first group out on the first lift in the morning, needless to say the spot was a little short and I was on the side of the formation that ended up tracking away from the DZ. Once the canopy opened I kept the toggles stowed and flied the canopy back to the DZ using rear risers. The riser pressure was a little more then I had previously experienced while jumping the Axon. This is probably due to the increased speed with a more aggressive canopy. The pressure though was still nothing that a jumper cant handle and I was able to hold the rear risers down all the way back to the DZ.

I did a couple hop and pops to really see what the capabilities of the parachute really were. The Furai is a speedster. It is fast, aggressive, and incredibly fun to fly. When using the front risers there is moderate pressure, however, there is no delay time or a sluggish response when pulling down a riser for a turn or swoop, the Furai just goes.

Toggle pressure is light across the board and very very responsive. It has a quick back to normal flight recovery rate when coming out of an intentional stall or a toggle turn.

When coming in for landings like the Axon it has an incredible amount of flare at the bottom end. I was able to get the canopy to go into flat flight coming out of a swoop really easy, and when it was time to stop there was still plenty of flare left to finish the landing.

I was jumping this canopy at a wingload of 1:1.41 and was completely comfortable with it there. IPT's customer service was great and responded in a very timely manner when I asked about demoing this while waiting on my Axon. If I had not already placed the order for my Axon I would have had a tough time deciding which parachute to get. Who knows, I might get one of these too and switch back and forth depending on what I feel like jumping that day. If you are even slightly thinking about it, I would highly recommend a demo of the Furai